Mother's Face
by Xmarksthespot
Summary: Garfield sometimes asks M'gann to turn back into Megan; he wants to see his mother's face again.


**Title**: Mother's Face  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ  
**Words**: 1,300+

**X-X-X-**

Out of his entire team, Garfield probably had the easiest time falling asleep. He was still young, still inexperienced and hadn't seen much on the field. He was one of the most innocent, and usually, his bad dreams would have been long forgotten upon waking up.

To his team, he was the most fortunate.

He has his own room, his own bathroom, and all the toys he could ask for. Gar has his own tutor who, after several years of being homeschooled, he didn't mind. And when Professor Carr wasn't there, he had Mal or Karen to help him with his school work.

Mount Justice's backyard wasn't as spacious as the fields he once had, but his team usually allowed him to freely roam the never-ending landscapes after a completed mission.

Gar was also the official Taste-Tester at the mountain whenever his older sister cooked. Even as a child, that had been his job, so by now, he could only consider himself an expert.

"Needs a bit more sugar, sis," he would tell M'gann before leaping from the counters to the other end of the kitchen in his animalistic form, yanking the spoon from the Martian's hand in the process.

Even though M'gann giggled at his actions, she scolded him lightly for taking the utensil away from her when she still needed it, and levitated it from his hands.

And although he liked Conner, Gar had preferred La'gann whose only goal was to please M'gann, and so spoiled him as well to make her happy. Swimming in the ocean alongside his sister's boyfriend wasn't something he particularly enjoyed, but being surrounded by so many aquatic creatures that his mother had once shown him was one of his favourite things to do since he joined the team.

"Sis, sis, look at me! I'm a dolphin now!" He had said during one of the trio's outings. He transformed midair and dove into the ocean after chirping like said animal. He knew she was laughing even though he was in the water, and continued to swim with the other fish while she and Lagoon Boy were sitting by the edges of the shore, doing whatever it was that couples did – pretty icky stuff, if Gar had anything to say about it.

Gar usually hung out with his other teammates, even though Jaime teased him as often as Batgirl scolding him, but he didn't mind – his mother once told him that the people close to him would do that because they were just looking out for him, so long as it never physically or emotionally hurt him; he took his mother's lessons to heart.

All in all, he was never alone – his new family made sure of that, just like they made sure to respect his past like they would respect any other teammates' background. But unlike his teammates, he _enjoyed_ discussing about his childhood.

He _loved_ talking about his mother, not to show off, but to remember her. Except after the first few months of being on the team, he couldn't find any more excuses to bring her up. And so, on his first Mother's Day at the cave, he decided to ask the team about their mothers so that he could bring up his own.

"Oh, hmm…She was a great multi-tasker – she had lots of kids to take care of, you know," M'gann said, but couldn't think of anything else to say about her mom.

Garfield had even summoned enough courage to ask Nightwing, whom everyone on the team assumed had no mother, even if he hadn't said anything – they all figured Batman was his dad or father-figure of some sort, and well, they couldn't see the Bat be romantic or flirtatious _at all _with a person of the opposite gender.

The older hero grinned when he was asked, not minding the personal question at all, and went on and on about how great his mother was, referring to the countless of stories of when he was a kid, without so much as giving any information away that could lead to his identity.

"She used to sing me to bed – I have to admit, I was a little scared of the dark back then," Nightwing said.

"Wow, she sounds great. Did she look like you? What did she sound like?" Garfield asked excitedly, waiting for Nightwing to answer so that he could relate to the former Robin with his own mother and how she used to sing him to sleep too – he could hear the woman's lullaby in his head already.

But Nightwing's smile faltered and the brows that peaked form his mask furrowed. He stuttered on his words before tipping his head to the side, deep in thought. "I think… I looked like her. People always said so – or did they say I looked more like my dad?" He asked himself, scratching his head, "I'm not so sure actually. Can't really remember what she sounded like either – I was a child the last time I saw her." He looked the least bit phased by his admission.

Their conversation ended then, and the older hero's words hadn't bothered Gar at all that day. But the green boy sometimes found himself reflecting on that conversation later on, the thought of forgetting his own mother sometimes nagged him through the following months.

He supposed that's why he wasn't able to fall asleep that evening, as he laid on his bed and stared into the dark corners of the room. He hummed his mother's lullaby to soothe himself, voice cracking on occasion; there was an inaudible growl of frustration that escaped his lips whenever he got the verses mixed up.

He pushed himself up from the mattress, eyes wandering around the room, as if he would be able to find a ghostly image nearby that might aid him. But there was no sight of the familiar redhead, no smile on the lips that used to peck his forehead every night before he went to bed.

He stopped his desperate search the moment his mouth began to quiver, and he crawled off of his bed, hesitantly heading to the room whose owner was the only other redhead that made him feel at home.

Garfield knew he caught M'gann off guard when he appeared at the doorway of her bedroom; she mentally lifted the latest teen novel to hit popularity towards her nightstand and looked up at him with sincerity.

"What's up, Gar?" She asked, but the sight of the teary eyed boy immediately caught her breath. Her features softened as well as her voice when she murmured his name again.

She made a move to get out of her bed, but before she could do so, the small, green boy scurried quickly towards the empty space next to her. Like a small puppy, he dug underneath the blankets, and curled next to her warm body, extending his skinny arms towards her.

"Garfield?" M'gann repeated, her hand reaching for his back for comfort, but it bounced back up when he shifted his position on her bed so that his face and hers were facing one another.

He sniffed again, and wiped the tears from his cheeks.

"Mom," he whimpered and looked up at her with pleading eyes.

M'gann's eyes fell, and she was overcome with sadness. Nodding, she began to visualize her new form, first by transforming into her familiar old self as Megan, but then aging her features and making sure that the vocal cords were at a correct, feminine yet nurturing, pitch.

Once she was done, she laid down next to the boy; he quickly wrapped his arms around her with no intention of letting her go. He dug his face into the crook of her neck.

Garfield was silent when M'gann, as Marie Logan, began humming a familiar tune that she remembered hearing in Quarac once. Her hand ran up and down his back, soothing him and smiled when she heard a faint hiccup.

Finally, the lullaby ended and the older shape shifter listened to the boy as he spoke once more that night.

"Night, mom."

"Goodnight, Garfield."

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**A/N**: Please do not favourite without a review!


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